Murder in Little Shendon is a classic British murder mystery, set in an idealised English village of the 1950’s full of interesting and often mysterious characters. If you are an Agatha Christie fan you will love this.  Indeed, you may even find one or two events very familiar.

A.H. Richardson has created some wonderful characters, all somewhat stereotypical of the genre but well described and believable. I really enjoyed the pairing of Sir Victor and Berry so I was pleased to learn that she has subsequently given them other stories. There were also some lovely touches from side characters.

I note that the author is UK born but has lived in the USA for many years. She has remembered her roots well and the text is convincing with just the occasional “Americanism” slipping in; co-worker for colleague, entryway for porch and a doctor estimating the weight of the body in pounds instead of stones. Also, when I was young all the village stores were known either simply by the proprietor’s name or the village name. We had Miss Smith’s Haberdashery, we did not have a Woolly World.

As expected in a typical whodunit everyone is a suspect, everyone has a secret and everyone has a motive. The amateur sleuths work their way through the list, uncovering clues one by one. They keep their interviews gentle and I found myself wanting to ask more. Richardson teases the reader with unasked questions and the sleuths’ inability to delve deeper.

The Table of Contents tells us that the final chapter has the unoriginal title of And the Murderer Is… which we reach with lots of motives and clues but, unless you are sharper than me, no certainty of who the perpetrator is. Of course there is only one way to resolve such a mystery so using subterfuge the police inspector calls everyone together to reveal all in dramatic style. I expected nothing different.

One could describe Murder in Little Shendon as formulaic, idealistic and unoriginal. It is, but it is also familiar, teasing and entertaining.  Definitely worth four stars.

About the Author

A. H. Richardson was born in London England and is the daughter of famous pianist and composer Clive Richardson. She studied drama and acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She was an actress, a musician, a painter and sculptor, and now an Author.

She published her debut novel Jorie and the Magic Stones in December 2014. At the request of those who loved the first ‘Jorie’ story, Richardson has written a sequel titled Jorie and the Gold Key, and she is currently working on the third book in the series.

In addition to children’s books, she also enjoys writing murder mysteries. She is the author of Murder in Little Shendon, a thriller murder mystery which takes place in a quaint little village in England after World War Two, and introduces two sleuths, Sir Victor Hazlitt and his sidekick, Beresford Brandon, a noted Shakespearian actor. And she has more ‘who-dun-its’ with this clever and interesting duo… Act One, Scene One – Murder and Murder at Serenity Farm.

A. H. Richardson lives happily in East Tennessee, her adopted state, and has three sons, three grandchildren, and two pugs. She speaks four languages and loves to do voiceovers. She plans on writing many more books and hopes to delight her readers further with her British twist, which all her books have.